Ganondorf's Apprentice
by Darth Wyndisis
Summary: Ganondorf creates a copy of Link. He teaches the copy the wonders of power and darkness


The Legend of Zelda:  
GANONDORF'S APPRENTICE  
  
Chapter 1  
Link woke up on his fifteenth birthday in his temporary home just outside Hyrule castle. He got up and looked out the window. The sun was bright and it cast shadows over the field which was covered by a green blanket of grass. Link was just leaving his house when stepped on an envelope which had been slid under his door. It was from princess Zelda. Link was glad that someone had remembered his birthday, so he eagerly tore the envelope open and found a piece of paper with some writing on it. He read what was on it and it said:  
Link, I had a strange dream where a plague of darkness came from the shadow temple. It destroyed everything in its path. In my dream I was told that a boy that wore green and carried a sword and shield would be able to destroy the evil. Meet me outside of the castle as soon as possible, Princess Zelda There must be something bad going on again. Link hoped that this would not take as long as his quest to destroy Ganondorf and Majora's Mask. Link remembered how dark and eerie the shadow temple was. Never the less, he must go. Link shuddered as he grabbed his sword and shield. He hoped this would be the last major quest in his life. When he saw Zelda, she wasn't wearing her usual pink dress; she had an old, plain light blue dress on. He squinted to see if it really was the princess, sure enough it was her. "Link, you're finally here. You must have gotten my letter," said Zelda  
"Yes I did."  
"Good, now let's go to that temple." They didn't talk to each other until Link finally broke the silence by the time they were walking up the stairs to the Kakarico Village. "I have been here before, this is not the most pleasant place in Hyrule I will tell you that much." "The shadow temple? What on Earth were you doing there? "Wait a minute," Link thought, why doesn't she know why I was there? She transformed into Sheik and helped me get the six medallions, why can't she remember such and event. I know I was the one who traveled to the future via the door of time so I must be the only one who remembers the future." "Hello, are you still alive, Link?" Zelda said lightheartedly. "Oh, uh, yeah I went there because my friend and I made a bet and the person to loose the bet had to go to the temple." "How long did you stay in there?" "Not long, it gave me the creeps and it didn't smell too good. Good thing I don't have mold allergies. I could have stayed longer but I had no need to be there." When they entered the graveyard link remembered that it was difficult to get up into the entry way. "Great, were going to need to find a way to get up there." "So that's where the shadow temple is." Link looked to his right and saw an old rickety shack. Maybe he could use something from there. "Wait a second I will be right back," Link said. He turned the doorknob and the door fell down. The place looked abandoned. Link looked around and sure enough there was a ladder. He carried the ladder over to where they needed to go. "Are you sure that thing will hold," said Zelda. "I'll be the guinea pig. If it can hold me it can hold you," Link said as he put the ladder on the edge of the rock face. Link went up first as he said he would do. Zelda followed, when she was at the top link offered her a hand and helped her up. They slowly walked down the stairs and entered the shadow temple. Right when they got inside two ReDeads charged after them. Link drew his sword and Zelda shot a huge blast of energy at one and it disintegrated into a pile of ashes. Link charged up a spin attack and cut the other in half.  
"Okay their gone lets go here," said Zelda as she pointed to a doorway.  
Link turned a look of disgust toward the redead. He still had haunting memories of them trying to strangle the life out of him. It just laid there staring at him. He walked over and gave it a kick in the face. He turned away to see a door he hadn't seen when he was on his quest to defeat Ganondorf. "That's funny," said Link "I don't remember that passage from before."  
"Then we will have to be extra careful."  
So they went through the door and look down a long corridor. Link drew his sword and went ahead of Zelda. Strangely, there was nothing but a few bones and shattered pots. At the end they reached a giant room with a large fancy mirror. It was gold and silver and there was a strange stone which glowed bright read embedded in the bottom of the mirror.  
"Link, look over there," said Zelda as she pointed to the mirror.  
"Something's not right," said Link.  
"Let's go look at it, and stay alert."  
As they moved closer to the mirror an image appeared and became move visible as they moved forward. As they got to the mirror they saw an image of Hyrule being engulfed in dark flames. A voice came out and said, "Only you three can determine the fate of Hyrule. Step into the future and end the darkness that is sure to come."  
"That's strange, it said you three," said Zelda suspiciously.  
"Heh heh heh. I will end no darkness!!!" Said a familiar voice from behind. It was Ganondorf. "You will not defeat me."  
"Link jump into the mirror!" Zelda yelled as she did so herself.  
Link jumped and Ganondorf threw a spell at the mirror and it hit just as Link was going through. He felt as though he was being sucked back into the mirror for a second then he flew out of the mirror into the future. Link looked at his older self for a moment and then looked back to see the mirror with his younger self on the other side who was standing in front of Ganondorf. Ganondorf lunged at the mirror but it was shattered by a spell from Zelda.  
"Okay, now we have to save the world, but everything seems okay now," said Link.  
  
Chapter 2  
  
While Link and Zelda were out to find a reason to save Hyrule Link's younger version was still at the Shadow Temple. Since Link had been split in half between the mirrors when Zelda hit it with a spell the Link left behind with Ganondorf had no memories. He did have some morals, a basic vocabulary, and the feelings and emotions of a natural human being. "Hello, Link" "Hi. who are you anyway." "I am Ganondorf, the king of evil," he replied. "Ganondorf," Link muttered to himself. "You do realize that you are powerful, do you not?" "Not really I do feel somewhat powerful." "Good, now imagine how powerful you could be if you joined me. Our combined strength could wipe out all who oppose us like a vast wildfire and we could build an empire among the ashes." "Power, I like the sound of that," Link said as a smile crept across his face. "It looks as though you can begin your training." "Sounds good." "Okay," said Ganondorf as he snapped his fingers which made three Hylian guards charge at him with their spears. Link defeated them with a little struggle. "Now let's give you some new weapons." Ganondorf gave Link two swords with five spikes on the bottom, one pointed down and the other four pointed off to the side and had the shadow symbol (the upside down triangle with the dots on the side) down near the handle. The handle was black and the swords were light, sharp and indestructible. The evil within the shadow temple was concealed within the swords. He was also equipped with a shield that was similar to the Hylian shield but it had a lightning bolt hitting the triforce but only the triforce of power was lit up the other two triforces were grey and two birds were carrying the triforces toward the gray spots. "These new weapons shall be useful to you," said Ganondorf, "Now we will try this again," he said as he snapped his fingers again and three more Hylian guards came at him with their spears. Link cut the spears in half with one swing, smashed one guard against the wall with his shied knocking him unconscious. He threw his shield on the ground and drew his second sword. After slashing and stabbing his enemies a few times he had won. "Hey these weapons are useful!" said Link. "I knew they would be," said Ganondorf laughing proudly. "I wanted to ask you, what do these designs on the shield mean? "Before the world was ever created there were 3 goddesses one named Din, the goddess of power, Nayru, the goddess of wisdom, and Farore, the goddess of courage. Those three triangles on your shield symbolize their power." "But only one is lightened up, how come the other two aren't?" "Well, the one that is lightened up is the triforce of power. That is what we have access to." "Triforce, that word sounds strangely familiar to me for some reason. Are those triangles the birds are carrying symbolize the triforce of wisdom and courage?" "Yes, those triforces are held by Link and Zelda, who live in the future, they are the only ones who can stop us." "Then what do those birds carrying the triforces symbolize?" Link asked. "Us," Ganondorf replied with an evil smile. "But if they are in the future how are we going to get them." "The Ocarina of Time you carry will get us there." Link looked down and saw the ocarina tied to his belt. He picked it up and examined it. "The song of time will get us to the future." Suddenly Link had a feeling that he knew what the song of time was. He took the ocarina up to his mouth and played the song of time. "Excellent," Ganondorf thought to himself. "Now, let us get back to your training." "Alright." "This will test your evasive skills," he said as he snapped his fingers causing five Hylian soldiers to appear. Three had bows and arrows and 2 had swords. They immediately surrounded him; he held his shield tightly in one hand and his sword in the other. Two of the soldiers with arrows ran in front of him and shot their arrows which were blocked by his shield. Another was behind him and prepared to put an arrow through his back at point blank range. Link rolled underneath him and stood up and slashed him across the back. Another charged at him with his sword and Link used his shield to knock it out of his hand. He also disabled a soldier's bow by cutting it in half. The one who lost his sword tried to pick it up but Link finished him off. Link looked around he saw two dead, one with no weapon cowering in the corner, and one with an arrow and another with a sword. "Only two left," he thought. He dropped his shield and drew his second sword. He ran at the one with the arrow pointed at him the soldier fired the arrow but Link simply took a step out of the way and he killed that one. The last one started dueling with him. Link blocked a couple swings from the man and cut his hand off. Link finished him so he wouldn't have to die such a painful death. "The boy is indeed powerful, but I must teach him to hate, yes, then he will be invincible," Ganondorf thought to himself as a smile grabbed hold of the corners of his face. "You will pay for what you did to my friends," the soldier with the disabled bow said as he walked out of the temple. He had a look of hatred on his face. "Why did you let him go, you must learn to use your aggression, let no one survive. You must kill your enemy with no mercy." "No, I am not like you, at first I thought being evil like you wasn't so bad, but now I know, I will only fight in self defense," Link said as he began to feel a lump in his throat. "Leave if you are going to talk like that." Link turned around and walked out of the temple. The day was coming to an end. He walked through the village and was met by a boy his age. He had short brown hair and he was slightly shorter than Link. He wore an old dark blue shirt and tan pants. "Hello my name is Zane," he said in a friendly tone. Link was glad because he felt that this may be a true friend. "Hello." "So where are you from?" Link was confused by this question and he looked up at the sky and then he said, "Around." "Interesting, have you ever heard of Lake Hylia?" "No I haven't actually." "I'll show it to you then." He said as they walked town the stairs to Hyrule field. "You must not get out much, your sure you never heard of La-" Zane was cut short by an arrow going through his head. He dropped into the stream and floated for a minute but was caught on a log and just stayed there. Link wondered who would do such a thing. Then he looked over to see the Hylian soldier who had walked out of the temple with a few others. They laughed and ran off to a small hut just outside the castle walls. Link began to feel remorse for his new friend. He looked down at Zane, who gave him a blank stare back; blood ran over his face which was completely pale. "Why did they do this?" He thought with a tear in his eye. "I only did what I had to in that temple, how could they kill my friend." Link's sadness slowly became anger. "Zane could have been my best friend. Is that just the way it is, is there something out there that says I can't have friends? Ganondorf certainly wasn't a friend, I can't kill without mercy. His anger became hate, which consumed the power Ganondorf lead him to believe he had. "If it weren't for Ganondorf my friend wouldn't be dead. What would he do? He would kill them without mercy that's what he would do." He turned his head back to the hut; his lip was quivering with anger. "Kill them Link, you have nothing left," said a voice in his head. He drew his sword and walked over to it. Another voice, just barely whispering told him to turn back and he was heading towards evil and destruction. He kicked the door down. Two people stood near the entrance he quickly cut off one's head and spun his sword around and stabbed the other. As he looked around the room he saw them sitting at a table playing cards, they had no weapons. He paused for a moment to see if his anger was gone. It wasn't. Link looked around the room as a wicked smile crept across his face. He went in to a rage of fury in hopes to let go of his anger before it destroyed him, he killed the rest of the Hylians. Dead bodies lied on the ground. Link looked around, unsatisfied. He was looking at one of the dead Hylians when he looked up into a mirror, which was broken. He saw his face, and it was the last way he wanted to see himself. Splashes of blood were on his face, he looked evil. Ganondorf appeared at the entrance of the hut. "It turns out the enemy is no better than us," he said staring at the mirror, "teach me to be powerful Ganondorf, power and hatred is all I have left.  
  
Chapter 3 At the same time Ganondorf was secretly training the "clone" in the Shadow Temple Link and Zelda were talking to the temporary King of Hyrule trying to see if they could mobilize a massive Hylian army to fight whatever was coming their way. "Something bad is going to happen. We need all the Hylian knights in Hyrule and I think we are going to need some help from the Zoras and the Gorons," said Zelda. "Wait hold up a minute, how do you know something bad will happen?" Ask the King "I had a dream. five years ago." "And what does that have to do with anything?" "You should trust Zelda," said Link, "Her dreams tell the future you know." "What kind of nonsense is that?!" The annoyed king yelled. "Listen, Zelda foresaw Ganondorf's rise to power, now I don't know what is coming our way but it is pretty darn bad so I would suggest you do what she requests," Link said frustrated. "Ganondorf never rose to power. He was here one day then he just went away without warning." "Yes he did and you are ignorant of the fact that he was sealed in the Evil Realm," said Link. "Evil Realm? Hah, hah hah! Heh HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH! The king started laughing so hard he nearly coughed up one of his lungs. "This is pointless," said Link "I hate to have to do this but if you don't believe me I have to do this. My father should never have given you temporary power." said Zelda as she held out here hand and used her magic to trap the king in a crystal. "Hey let me out, I'll make it up to you I promise," yelled the king as Link and Zelda walked away. Off to the side were two guards who have happened to overhear the whole conversation. "Darn, the princess doesn't usually use her powers like that," said one guard. They ran to catch up to them. "We have to see what is going on," said the other. "Hello Zelda. Hello Link," they said as they walked up to them. "Did you hear us talking?" asked Link. "Yes we heard everything" "Good, so do believe what I was saying?" Zelda asked in an agitated voice. "Well if you used your powers like that then I'm sure you believe that dream was a prophesy," said a guard. "We will help you construct the biggest Hylian army ever." Zelda told the guards all about what happened.  
  
Link, Zelda and the guards gathered all of the Hylians outside the castle. They stood on the balcony and looked down at the people. One guard yelled above the cheering Hylians, "Princess Zelda has told use that something bad is going to happen. We could be about to fight a war against evil. We must not take what Zelda has told us for granted. Anyone who opposes this step forward," he said. The head carpenter stepped forward and said, "What a bunch of trash!" He screamed. "Why should I believe this stuff it's just a stupid dream she had." "Then I feel very sorry for you," Link shouted back. The crowd ignored what the carpenter had said and continued to listen to Link. "Now we need people to sign up for the army," Link requested. One third of the Hylians joined.  
  
Chapter 4 It was not long before all of the Hylian soldiers were capable of hitting small target from far away. All of them were glad to be in the army, but several questions they had went unanswered, "What are we going up against? Will we be betrayed by someone? If so, who? If a war starts, how long will it last? Will we win?" All of these questions scared the Hylians. "How the did Ganondorf get out of the Evil Realm?" Asked Zelda. "I have no idea, but he has power and he is probably seeking more power," said Link. "Wait a minute," he thought, "I thought I was the only person that knew of Ganondorf's fate. Zelda must know that he got sealed in the Evil Realm, but she just doesn't know how." "I saw myself in the mirror with Ganondorf," said Link. "Maybe it was just a reflection." "No you don't understand it was me but younger." "Well, maybe you just left and image of yourself when you jumped through." "Possibly," Link said unsure. They climbed up Death Mountain to talk to the Gorons. When they got up to where they needed to be, Zelda was exhausted. She had to sit down for a couple minutes. "You don't do this much do you?" Link asked smiling. "No not very often, I never get the opportunity to do such things, since; you know I am the princess." "What would your father do if he found out you were doing this?" Link was curious, he was used to just doing his own thing, and he had no one to control him other than himself. "He would probably ground me for a couple weeks and give me a lecture about how I shouldn't do stuff like that and I can hurt myself. That lecture would probably seem to last half the time I am grounded. It isn't fair, I am going to be the future queen, and I deserve to make some of my own decisions." "It must be tough not to be able to go out in the outside world, and be away from your friends all the time." "Yes it is. Speaking of my father, I wonder why my fathers assistant was still in power, my father should of gotten back by now." "My guess is when we jumped through that mirror everything just sort of stayed where it was and then started going again five years later. That seems about right doesn't it? It feels like we are about five years older. By the way where did your father go?" "He was on some sort of 'diplomatic mission' outside of Hyrule, if your theory is right, he will probably come home soon." There was a short pause in the conversation. "Wow my whole head is spinning from climbing up that hill and talking." "Yeah the elevation can't help much, the air is thinner up here you know." "Okay I think we better get going." They entered Goron City. "Hello, it is not often we see Hylians here, did you too happen to get lost in the mountains? "No," said Zelda, "As matter of fact, we came here to see your leader Darunia. By the way, I am Zelda princess of Hyrule, and this is Link, he is helping me with a big problem we have, but no need to explain it to you I must see Darunia." She handed him a piece of paper with her autograph written in gold ink. Sure enough this was Zelda's handwriting. "I will take you to him right away then." "Thank you," Zelda said nodding her head to show her appreciation. He led them down stairs and opened the door to the throne room. "Wait here," the goron said. "Darunia, Princess Zelda and someone named Link have come to see you." "Thank you sir, go back to your business." "With pleasure Darunia." He walked out the door and let Zelda and Link in. "As they entered Darunia put on a pair of glasses. "Link, is that you?" he asked. "Brother!" he said as he stood up leisurely and walked over to them. "I haven't seen you in a decade buddy." He patted Link on the back and gave him a big hug. Zelda giggled at Link's face, which was bright red and his eyes were almost popping out from being squeezed so hard. "So have you killed anymore monsters or anything, been saving more peoples lives. You never told me your friend was the Princess of Hyrule." Darunia let go of Link. Good, now he could get the blood back to his vital organs. You two can take a seat. They both turned around and saw a couple chairs. They were made of stick frames and the seat and backs were made of strong woven ropes. They didn't look very comfortable but they would have to do. "Not for a while, but I hope to save some lives from Ganondorf." "Ganondorf? He's back again. Rumor has it that he just left mysteriously." "Yes he is, and I am afraid we may have a war on our hands," said Link. "Well do you have any proof?" "Well, no, but he is back and he is power hungry so I would advise you to mobilize your army in case of an attack. Trust me; I know some things I can't explain to you." "All right, I'll construct an army and if Ganondorf attacks, the gorons will help, we were born to fight." "I'll loan you some money I can spare it," said Zelda. "Thank you, that would be most appreciated." They thanked Darunia for his cooperation and they headed back to Hyrule. They Hylians would be glad to know that they would have help.  
  
Chapter 5 Link and Zelda gained more and more support from the Hylians and the King became no more than a figurehead. They started getting the people ready for war by having people make new advanced weapons such as cross bows that had a long range and were more accurate, stronger, sharper spears, and heavy armor for horses and knights. Link thought it would be good if about 20 soldiers and a few snipers guard the city walls at night. One morning all of the soldiers outside the city were gone. The Hylian people were awestruck by this event. Rumors spread quickly that a sniper knew why they disappeared. Link and Zelda found the sniper and asked what happened. "It was in the middle of the night, it was about as dark as it gets and a person wearing a black tunic attacked the soldiers with 2 swords. I tried to stop whatever it was, but it was to fast for me and the soldiers it killed." "Were there any survivors?" Zelda Asked. "Yes, a man who surrendered and me. He must have been taken prisoner or something." "What did this guy look like?" "He looked a lot like you, same height. I got a short glimpse of his face because of all the sparks flying. He looked like you." Link stood with his mouth open for a second. "Thank you," he said to the sniper and walked away. "This is bad, he said." "Why?" Zelda asked. "Remember, I saw myself in that mirror with Ganondorf. Is it possible he has joined Ganondorf's side?" "I have never heard of such a thing happening, but I suppose it is possible." "I just know he is loyal to Ganondorf, I can feel it." "How?" Zelda asked, "How can you tell that he has turned evil?" Link didn't know what to say, it was like his mind was being penetrated by some force, something evil. In his dreams he could almost sense where his evil reflection was, but he wasn't sure if it was reality or his imagination. "I don't know, it feels like he is a part of me," Link said. "I don't know if there is anything that can destroy him but me. This is personal." "I have a feeling that we are going to need more than Hylians and Gorons to win this upcoming battle," Zelda said, trying to change the subject. Link seemed uneasy about the situation with his reflection. "The Zoras will help us. They won't be hard to convince after they find out what happened." "I should probably go visit the Zoras, if they believe me they will join us," Link said. His usual confidence was back. "I will leave tomorrow morning, but first, I must go home and get a goodnight sleep." The next morning Link showed up at the castle. He told Zelda he would go talk to the Zoras about what happened. Zelda wanted to come along but Link told her to stay back, something told him that it may be dangerous. "Be careful Link." "I will, wish me luck." Link rode away on Epona with two guards on his side. He was going to Lake Hylia. When he reached his destination, the stench of dead fish filled his nostrils. He was horrified at what he saw. There were dozens of Zoras floating in the water dead. They were all cut up and missing limbs. A few who were still alive were trying to bury the dead. Link walked up to one of them and said, "I think I know who did this." They all looked at him. "Who?" They asked. "It's a long story, but I feel it is important that I tell it to you. Excuse me for not introducing myself but I am Link, the Hero of time." "It was him!" Link looked around, startled to see a crazed Zora with a large gash on his left arm. He was with to others. Link's heart began to race a million miles an hour. He knew him and his reflection looked exactly the same. "He killed them," his voice was shaking with fear. Link couldn't quite guess his age because Zoras didn't have hair but he figured he was a little older than the rest. The Zoras looked at him then they looked at Link in disbelief. Although they didn't know Link very well he did not look like someone that could commit a terrible crime like this. Link couldn't think clearly now. He was in his own world. Everything seemed to white out, except for the dead Zoras floating in the water. He looked at one of them. His face looked surprised, horrified, and lifeless. Link looked down into the water and saw his reflection. He then had a flash back of looking into that mirror and seeing himself with Ganondorf. Then something hit him like a tone of bricks. His reflection was right handed. Things started to clear up a little bit now. Link looked at the Zora he was just looking at. His left lung was impaled. He looked at another, who was holding onto his left wrist in a failed attempt to stop the bleeding. Everything was clear now. He had a way out. "He calmly looked at the crazed Zora and said, "Look at the bodies around you. Look at their wounds. Look at your wound. Which side of your body is that on? "My left," he said still suspicious of Link. "Exactly, if I did this most of these men would have cuts on their right side because I am left handed." The rest of the Zoras' fears of Link were pretty much diminished. Link looked around and saw a look of relief on their faces. "Oh good," he thought, maybe when this was all over I could be a lawyer or something." After all, he had to get paid somehow. Link's thoughts were interrupted.  
  
"Prove it!" The Zora said, "Prove to me you are left handed!" He walked over to a big stick and he picked it up. The rest of the Zoras looked confused. He broke it in half and handed half of it to Link. Link saw where he was going with this. "Alright, let's make this a fair fight, and if you kill me I have witnesses." Link held the stick in his left hand. The Zora was the first to attack. He ran at Link and took a vertical chop at his head. Link blocked it. The Zora picked up the pace a little bit. He went for Link's legs, then his chest, then his arm. Link blocked them again. The Zora, who was apparently in denial of the fact that Link didn't kill those men, ran at him again and put all of the force he could behind his weapon. Link countered the attack, knocking the stick loose from his grip. He then held the stick against the Zoras neck. "Okay, you win." Link pulled the stick away and dropped it on the ground. "That is enough to convince me that you didn't do it," the Zora said. "By the way what is your name?" Link asked. "I am the great Zora swordsman, Master Wyndisis. He had apparently calmed down some and he was out of breath. "Pleased to meet you Master Wyndisis, you seem to be a formidable opponent, you must sword fight a lot," Link said. "Yes I do, and these are all my students here." Link was so busy fighting with Master Wyndisis and talking to him that he hadn't noticed that the rest of the Zoras had circled around them during the fight. "Wow, I never knew that so many Zora were into sword fighting." There looked to be even more than there were when Link first came to Lake Hylia. "Yes, it is a dying sport among the Zoras." "And are all these dead guys your students as well." "Yes," he said shaking his head sadly. "I have trained them well, but not well enough." "How did it happen?" Link asked. "We were doing a training session in the middle of the night. I was teaching them how to use a sword gracefully. I went to get some candles, you see they have this exercise where they have to cut through the candles and they can't make the candles fall after they are cut." "I got you," Link said. "So as I was walking back I saw a man, your age, your height, same clothing, same. He looked exactly like you. He had his sword drawn, and began attacking my students. They were no match for him. He was taking them down so quickly I couldn't get there in time to save many of them. I ran as fast as I could, I can't run too fast because of my age. I engaged in a short fight with him and he cut my arm, then he hit me in the head with a metal spike on the handle of his sword. I fell down and I was dazed, but still conscious. He looked at me for a second, he looked just like you but he was cold, dark, and evil looking. He didn't look like he had any emotion other than hate. He was about to finish me off when two of my swordsmen attacked him. One of them was my son." A tear fell from Master Wyndisis's eye. He managed to choke back his grief. He cut off the others head and held his sword to my son's neck. My son dropped his sword and the man took him away. That was when I blacked out. I was awakened by somebody shaking me. "Master," he said, "Are you alive?" "I got up. He asked me what happened, and I told him everything I just told you. That is when you came along. I am truly sorry for misjudging you like that. "It's okay, I understand." Link went back to what he was about to get to before. He wondered if he should tell them the entire whole story. He decided not to because they would probably just think he is crazy and there would be absolutely no point to it. The fact that they got attacked by a mysterious man who worked for Ganondorf was enough to convince them to help the Hylians defeat Ganondorf's forces. Link began to speak to the group. "The person that attacked your fellow swordsmen was working for Ganondorf, a cruel man with evil intensions. Just recently, an attack like this occurred just outside of Hyrule Castle's walls. It happened at night a number of soldiers were killed and the last one standing was taken away. I see that the same thing has happened here. I would appreciate it if you could convince your king to construct an army to defeat the evil foe." "I will do that," said Wyndisis, "these men are trained to fight." "Thank you, I will make certain that I will do my part when Ganondorf comes our way. He will not defeat us, good will always triumph over evil!"  
  
Chapter 6 It was about noon now. Link had helped the Zoras clean up the rest of the dead. He was starting to get a headache. He tended to get headaches when the weather was going to be bad. He thanked Wyndisis for his help once again. He got on Epona and rode away. A lot had been gotten done so far. The Hylians had faith in Link and Zelda, Darunia, his sworn brother would aid him if a war started, and the Zora warriors would help him as well. There wasn't much more help out there. The Kokiri were too young to fight, the Sheikah were all but extinct, and the Gerudos were way too xenophobic. It started drizzling a little bit. Link kicked Epona in the sides to make her go faster; it was likely to start raining harder. Link figured he would have to get some rest when he got back. Zelda had arranged for him to have a small room in the center of the castle. It wasn't first class, but it was small and cozy and most importantly to Link, quiet. The room was a typical one; it had a bed, a dresser and a nightstand with a fishbowl on it. When Link reached his destination his head was throbbing with pain. It was pouring rain now. He got off Epona and ran inside. Link needed to sit down. He slumped down against the wall. "Gees, I always get headaches when the weather is bad, but I never get anything this bad," he thought. He stood up and headed off toward his room. One disadvantage of his room was that it was a long walk to get there and the whole castle was like a maze. He sometimes wished he could go back in time and smack the person that designed the place. He finally made it to his room. He plopped down on the bed, not even bothering to change into drier clothes. He took the pillow and put it over his head. Within minutes, he was asleep. He began to dream. Link was out in the middle of a strange field. It was more grey than green and there was a gradually sloping hill with a tree at the top. Leaning against the tree was a young man, dressed in a grey robe. His face was also covered in grey. Link stood at least a quarter mile away from him, and he began to walk toward him. As he came closer and closer, the wind started blowing harder. Whirlwinds were carrying leaves around and about. Link was almost there. He was almost getting blown back the wind was blowing so hard. He reached the figure. It looked up at Link for a second, and then it turned around. A dark figure behind the person dressed in grey appeared. Link couldn't tell who it was it was just really dark. Then it transformed into Ganondorf. "Come with me," Ganondorf said to the person, "I will teach you to be more powerful than you can imagine. Look at you now, you are nothing." The figure started to walk toward Ganondorf. His clothing turned a darker grey. The wind stared blowing really hard now. A limb flew off the tree. "Don't listen to him," Link yelled at the top of his lungs, "Don't you see, he wants to use you as a pawn, he can give you power but he can take it away when he wants!" But the figure didn't listen, he couldn't hear. "What a pathetic fool he is," Ganondorf said, "Where would you be without me, most likely getting destroyed by me?" The wind was dying down whenever Ganondorf talked, and the figure was listening to him. It began to turn even darker. "Come with me, I can destroy Ganondorf and you could too with my help. We could seal him back in the Evil Realm for eternity!" But the wind was blowing too strongly for the figure to hear Link. It turned completely black. It whipped his hood off and Link saw his own face, twisted and evil. He stood next to Ganondorf and held out his arm. "NO!" Link screamed. The wind blew strongly in his direction, he flew back twenty feet. The sky was completely black as well. A lightning bolt split the tree right in half. "Now we will destroy you and all you fought for," the evil Link said. Link sat up and looked in disbelief. A stick flew into his head and knocked him unconscious. Link woke up in his room in a cold sweat. His headache was gone, so he decided to see how things were going in the castle. He opened the door to the hallway, and a blinding light shot through and turned everything white. This dream was not over yet.  
Link stood in amazement, not knowing where he was. He began to pace around, but there was no where to go. "Hello Link," said a woman's voice. It echoed twice when it spoke. "Who's there?" Link was looking around and he saw no one. "Who do you think it is?" "Are you the three goddesses?" "Correct, we have come to tell you something of great importance. You have done well. You have gotten many people of different races to join you on your quest. A long quest your quest may be, but it shall be worth it all in the end." "But what is my quest exactly, all I know is that I was somehow duplicated between the past and the present and my duplicate joined Ganondorf." "Yes that is right, the spell Ganondorf cast on that mirror created a copy of you, but he used his power in such a way that your copy wasn't yourself, it didn't have your strong spirit, so consequently Ganondorf let evil cloud his thoughts and make him a pawn of his." "By the way, how did Ganondorf escape the Evil Realm?" "We simply let him escape." "You what?" Link asked startled. "That's right we let him go. It is our first step in letting you destroy Ganondorf's spirit, instead of just sealing him away and having him escape again. When you were duplicated by that mirror Ganondorf took over your copy's mind. Now you have a telepathic connection to your dark side. Once you learn to use that connection to its fullest extent, you will be able to communicate with it, and give it your good thoughts, and turn him into a good copy of you. However this comes at great risk. Ganondorf can do the same thing to you, so you could be taken over by Ganondorf as well as your own dark side." The goddesses could sense Link's confusion. The respected that he wasn't used to this sort of thing. "Think of it in military terms, Link. There are two islands, one represents you, and the other represents Ganondorf. Both have strong armies, but no ships to carry the troops over the vast sea. If only you could build a bridge and go over and destroy the enemy country. The bridge is built and it represents your duplicate." "So Ganondorf is halfway across the bridge and about to destroy me?" Link asked. "Do not give into negativity, Link. Since you have such a strong soul we gave Ganondorf that mirror to do that, and it will help him in the short run, but however, his evil spirit is corrupt and you can destroy him easier than he could destroy you." "Oh good, this shouldn't be too bad then," Link thought. "But your dark side is allied with him and that will even the odds a little." "Why couldn't you destroy Ganondorf, Din? He has your powers so why can't you use them to destroy him?" "That is something you just have to live with Link, you would never understand, it is a part of our philosophy so to speak. You need to learn of the importance of the higher beings role. Remember how easily you convinced the Hylians, Gorons, and Zoras to join your cause. That is because they knew in their hearts that they had to do their part. They had no physical evidence that Ganondorf was around. How would they know that that lunatic killing people with a sword was Ganondorf's follower?" Link saw what they were getting to. "What do I do now?" "Remember after you defeated Ganon the first time when you gave the Spiritual stones to Zelda for safe keeping in case Ganondorf ever did come back?" "Yes." "Go talk to Zelda, ask for the spiritual stones and go retrieve the master sword." "Okay, but do I have to do any more of that time travel business." "No when you opened the door of time the first time you simply weren't old enough to fight Ganondorf. Now you are twenty years old and you don't need to be held any longer." "What do I do after I get the master sword?" "You must head back to the shadow temple; there is a lot to be revealed there." With that the dream was over. Link sat up in his bed, and he set off to talk to Zelda.  
  
Chapter 7 Link opened his door and started walking down the hall. He felt better now, his headache was gone, but he was extremely hungry. It had to be at least 5:00. "Now where would Zelda be this time of day?" He thought. He didn't know Zelda very well. This past couple weeks was the first time he had actually gotten to know Zelda. She ran into him a couple of times during his quest to defeat Ganondorf, and after he returned from the future. Zelda knew Link even less. All she remembered was when he came to the castle once and retrieved the spiritual stones and came back. Link came across a guard that was off duty. "Sir, would you happen to know where the dining room is?" Link asked. "Well of course Link, right this way." The guard gestured with his arm to come along with him to the dining room. Link had been there before but he would forget on an occasion. Maybe that was where Zelda was. They had finally reached the dining room. "Thank you," Link said giving the guard a nod showing his appreciation. Link opened the door. This room was huge. The wooden floor was so shiny that it looked like you could ice skate on it. Taking up most of the floor was a red carpet with a gold border. There were eight oval-shaped tables that could seat fourteen people. Link still couldn't imagine how anyone could have that many guests at once. The ceiling, which was at least fifteen meters high, had five gargantuan chandeliers hanging from it. There was a painting of the goddesses all holding onto a piece of the Triforce and watching over Hyrule. The walls were covered with pictures of the royal family members. There was a podium with the Triforce printed on it. To get to the podium one would have to climb the steps to get to the top. On top were two thrones where the king and Zelda sat. Link looked around and saw Zelda sitting by herself at one of the tables eating her dinner. Then he looked at the long array of food. His mouth began to water. He walked over and started to take a little bit of everything. He hadn't eaten since breakfast. There were a number of meats, fruits, vegetables, soups, salads, and sweets. Zelda had just noticed that Link was in the room. He walked over and set a plate of food and a bowl of soup down next to her. "With you eating as much as you do, it's a wonder that half the people in Hyrule aren't starving already," Zelda said kindly with a smile. Link gave her a smile back and went back to the table to pick up another plate that wasn't quite as full of food, a plate with a few pieces of pie, and a glass full of white grape juice. "Wow, you must really be hungry," Zelda stated. "Yeah, all I ate today was an apple for breakfast." Zelda's meal wasn't half of what Link had. She had a piece of chicken, mashed potatoes, and assorted vegetables. Link began to devour his food. "Slow down, you'll choke," Zelda said. "M'll beff finmmh," Link said with food stuffed in his mouth. "What?" Zelda asked. It took Link a while to chew and swallow his food. "I said I'll be fine." "Okay." Zelda watched in amazement as Link devoured the rest of his food. She had never seen anyone eat that fast. She was used to seeing such formal people eat and it would take them a century to eat what Link had with him. He was done in twenty minutes. "If I had to guess, you didn't eat since breakfast yesterday," said Zelda. "So would I. I feel so much better now." "Did the Zoras say they would help us?" Zelda asked on a more serious note. "Yes, they have. It has now been proven that my living reflection does exist." "Really, how do you know?" "I talked to a swordsman, the Zoras had a similar attack to the one we had a while ago. Everyone except for a few people survived. The swordsman saw the attackers face. His face was identical to mine. According to the swordsman, Wyndisis, he slaughtered them, and he took his son away." That was just what the sniper saw when he attacked here, he killed off all witnesses that he saw and took one away." "Slow down, Link. How did that swordsman get to see his face if he killed all of the Zoras who saw him?" "Master Wyndisis tried to fight him, he was knocked unconscious, but he wasn't killed." "That's fortunate, so how did they come about joining us?" "Well it's not official that the Zoras are on our side, but the swordsmen are prepared to defend Hyrule. They said they would try to get their king's support." "Well done Link, you would make a good politician; you have done a good job rallying support for us, how do you do it?" "Zelda, I would like to thank you for bringing that up," Link said thankfully. "What did I bring up that was so important? I just asked him a simple question," she thought. "Link is something wrong? I just asked you how you get so many people to respond to your cause," Zelda said showing concern. "I just had two very strange dreams. In the first dream, I met my dark side." Link folded his hand on the table and shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Your dark side? How do you have a dark side you seem so friendly and kind and heartwarming." "I do have a dark side Zelda," said Link as he stood up and began to pace back and fourth. He started to make hand gestures as he talked. "He is my own, living reflection, Ganondorf brought him to life and he did it in such a way that if he took one step towards darkness, he wouldn't be able to go back. In my dream this hooded figure was standing about, I went up to talk to him, he looked board. As I came closer, the wind blew harder, I talked to him. Then he looked at me, and Ganondorf appeared behind him. He tempted this guy to join him. I tried to talk him out of it, but he couldn't hear a word I was saying. He walked over to Ganodorf and took his hood off, and do you know who it was Zelda?" Link said almost yelling. Zelda was in a complete shock, she had never heard of something like that happening. She looked Link directly in the eyes and said, "Who?" Link could feel her concern. "It was me!" he said. "It was my own dark side that took over my reflection." Zelda was in a complete shock, she had never heard of something like that happening. "Link, are you sure this wasn't just a strange dream, a lot of people have dreams like that and they don't mean anything." "Please, Zelda, I beg you to understand me. You have had dreams like that before; remember the dark clouds, Ganondorf. I can feel the presence of my reflection. I can feel the darkness stirring within me. I can almost see what he sees." Was this really happening? Did Link's evil reflection actually exist? Link seemed serious about it. He wasn't like a nut or anything either. Zelda began to believe him. "When we jumped into that mirror, your reflection was left in the past with Ganondorf, right?" "Yes," replied Link. He had calmed down a little. "How do you suppose he got into the future?" "I don't know, but what I do know is that he is here and he needs to be stopped." There was a moment of silence. Link had so much to tell Zelda, he didn't know were to go next. "Oh yeah, in my other dream I spoke to the goddesses." "You did, did they tell you anything important?" "Yes, they told me I should go back to the shadow temple to find out more. And to answer the question you asked about how I got so many people to support me, the people know deep in their hearts that it is the right thing to lend a hand to us." "Really, that's what they told you?" "Yes. There is another thing I have to tell you. Remember when we first met, a long time ago?" "Yes," she said. "You told me that you had a dream about a dark cloud that symbolized Ganondorf. You requested that I go find three spiritual stones that would open the door of time and allow me to retrieve the master sword. I left a few days then I came back. Ganondorf had mysteriously left. You asked my to give you the three stones, so you could hold onto them until something bad happened. Now it is time for me to retrieve the master sword and head to the shadow temple. There yet another thing that I have to tell you." "What?" "Ganondorf didn't just go away. He was sealed inside the sacred realm, because of me." "What did you do, you didn't open the door of time did you?" "As matter of fact I did," Link responded. Zelda was astounded. "You opened the door of time, how, when?" "You don't remember because you weren't the one time traveling, but I went forward in time just before I gave you the stones. Ganondorf chased you and Impa out of the castle. You threw me the Ocarina of Time. I went to the temple of time and opened the door of time. Unfortunately, Ganondorf followed. Instead of me retrieving the whole triforce, it was split between you, me, and Ganondorf. I went forward in time and defeated Ganondorf. You helped me along the way. When I defeated Ganodorf he was locked in the sacred realm, until now. We must send him back." Zelda just sat there. She could almost remember the whole thing; it was like it was all in the back of her mind. "Thank you, Link." She stood up and hugged him. If it weren't for him, there may not have been a Hyrule anymore. "Your welcome, but now, I have to go and defeat him again, along with my dark side. "Your right, we have no time to loose let's go get those spiritual stones," Zelda said firmly. "Wait a second," Link said. He picked up the large glass of grape juice that he had gotten and he chugged it down. He made a face. "Wow this stuff tastes funny. Do you know how old it is?" "Zelda's eyes nearly sunk into the back of her head. She had a worried expression on her face. "Link, that's wine," she said. Link had never gotten drunk before, let alone drink more than a few sips of alcoholic beverages. The wine was immediately taking effect. Things started spinning around. He looked at Zelda and saw three of her. "Oh look Zelda, you have two evil reflection people, you got me beat," Link said as he snickered at his own joke. "Link, snap out of it we got important things to do. You told me that yourself." "I still can't hear you Zelda. Quit playing mind games with me, I know which one is you." He reached forward at Zelda but his hand hit space. "Hey you're cheating," his speech was beginning to slur, "Where are you. Oh now this is hide and seek, I see the way it is." Link began walking around looking for Zelda. He tripped over a couple chairs and nearly fell flat on his face. "I found you!" Link lifted up the table cloth and looked under the table. There was a fur coat under it. "Ain't nothing but a dead squirrel down here." He walked away but he forgot he had a hold of the table cloth, as he walked away, he knocked down some wine glasses and they shattered. "Link just stop where you are, I am going to help you." Just as Zelda finished her sentence, an obese, female cook kicked the kitchen door wide open. She looked to be about three-hundred fifty pounds, her apron was covered with yellow grease, and her hair was grayish and it was worn in a bun with two chopsticks holding it in place. There was a spatula in one hand and a rolling pin in the other. "What is all that hullabaloo?!" She yelled. "Stop, drop, and roll!" Link yelled as he jumped on the floor and started rolling around as if he were on fire. "Oh, princess Zelda," the cook was clearly surprised and embarrassed by her mistake, "May I ask what is going on here?" Her voice was toned down a lot. "Oh, Link just drank a lot of wine, don't worry, it's my fault, I didn't tell him that it was wine. He drank it so fast." "This his first time drinkin'?" The cook asked. Zelda looked down at Link, who was half asleep on the floor. "Apparently." The cook nodded her head, "So is there anything I can do to help?" "You might want to send in someone to clean up the mess, I have to help Link now," Zelda said. "Okay, I'll go get help," the cook slowly closed the door. Zelda reached down, grabbed Links shoulder and gave him a little shake. "Are you okay?" Links eyes opened up, he looked left, right, and then he looked up at Zelda. She looked concerned. "I think I am going to be sick." "Do you need to get to the bathroom?" "Yes, that would be greatly appreciated." Zelda helped Link stand up. He started staggering around. She grabbed Link by the shoulders and guided him toward the bathroom. She let Link go for a second and opened up the door. She put the door stopper down and guided Link in toward the toilet. "Uh, Zelda I'll be fine right now, thank you." "Oh, right." Zelda hurried out of the bathroom and closed the door. She stood there for a few minutes. Suddenly she heard a lot of gagging noises. Link began to vomit. She winced at the sound of him puking, this was going to last a while. He stopped. "Oh good, it's finally over," Zelda thought. Then it started up again. Zelda put her hands over her ears. She ran over to the kitchen and grabbed a handful of mints from the table. Hopefully Link was okay. He had important things to do. Link felt better now, the dizziness was starting to go away, he walked out of the bathroom and Zelda handed him a mint. "Here, it will get rid of the taste," she said. "Oh, thank you Zelda," he said as he popped the mint into his mouth. "Just be careful not to choke on it okay," Zelda said. She hoped he didn't choke, but if he did, she had seen the Heimlich maneuver performed several times. "We have to go get those stones right now." "Okay, sounds like fun." Link was still out of it. "I know. You can wait here." She looked down the hall and saw a large comfortable chair with no one sitting in it. She took hold of Links shoulders once again and led him toward the chair. Link sat down and fell asleep. He couldn't possibly throw up any more, so Zelda walked away to go get the spiritual stones. "I'm back," she said. Link looked into her hand and saw the three shimmering stones. "You got any more mints?" he asked. Link wasn't usually as off topic as he was now. "Here you go." "Thanks." "Let's go. Do you have your ocarina?" "Yeah." He rummaged through his pockets until he finally found it and pulled it out. "Follow me," Zelda said as she began walking quickly down the hall. "Whoa, slow down." Zelda slowed down. "Slow down some more." Link was standing back by the chair. Zelda decided to stop and wait for him. Link got so he was about three feet behind her, she started walking again. "Slow down." Zelda was starting to get annoyed, she rolled her eyes, but she regretted it. After all, it wasn't Link's fault that he was drunk. She took a small step forward. "One thousand one, one thousand two, one thousand three," she counted in her head. This seemed like a fair and steady pace. They kept going along the long, mind-numbing, journey toward the Temple of time. "Oh good we're finally here," Zelda thought. Link was walking faster now; she only had to wait one second between each step. They finally made it to the temple, it was getting dark now. They got inside and stood in front of the Door of Time. "Link, the Song of Time." "Right." He took the ocarina to his lips and played various notes. "Here, let me help you." Zelda grabbed the ocarina, but Link still kept blowing air through it. She helped him play the right notes. The spiritual stones started to glow magnificently, the Door of Time gradually opened. "Go get the Master Sword, Link. He walked to the pedestal and pulled out the sacred weapon. Zelda saw Link get engulfed in a bright blue light. The door closed. Zelda was really getting tired. She sat down against the wall and fell asleep. "Zelda," a voice whispered, "Zelda. Hey Zelda, wake up. Zelda!" "What, who, oh hi Link, what took you so long?" Zelda asked. "Well the first time I opened the Door of Time I waited in there seven years to get older. I suppose I just had to wait in there to sober up all little, that's all." "Okay, now you got to go to the shadow temple." "I know. I plan to be back soon, go get some rest Zelda. Oh, and I'm sorry if I was too much of a hassle for you." "No, don't worry; I should have realized that that was wine. We only serve grape juice at lunch time. Zelda walked off to the castle and Link walked over to the guard that was in control of the bridge. "Sir, could you please let the bridge out." "Well sure Link, where do you plan on heading at these hours?" "The shadow temple, it's very important. I don't have time to explain." The guard lowered the bridge. Link ran out into the field. Then he stopped. He turned around and yelled, "Thank you!" to the guard. He sprinted across the field. His boots were soaking wet, the grass was still wet from it raining earlier. He could feel the long grass brushing across his ankles and water splashing him in the legs, arms, and face. He ran up the stairs to Kakariko village, his feet were pounding on the rocky stairs. He had to quiet down now, people were sleeping. Link slunk through the village, as quietly as possible. He reached the graveyard. "There's got to be something in that shack that I can use as a torch," he thought. He went into the shack and looked around, there were a lot of boards lying around in piles, but they were all wet because the roof had many leaks in it. He carefully rummaged through the piles of wood, being sure not to get any splinters. He found a nice dry three foot long board in the pile. Then he looked in an old dresser for a piece of cloth. He found one and rapped it around the end of the wood. He looked across the graveyard. "Is that ladder still there," he thought. It was too far away to see, he moved forward. Sure enough, it was there. He climbed up the ladder holding the board in his right hand. He hurried down the steps and lit the cloth on fire. He unsheathed his sword and entered the Shadow Temple. It was dead silent. Link figured it would be best for him to go to the room with the mirror in it. That is just were he went. He slowly opened the door. He held his torch around the corner to see what was going on. "Stop, what do you want with me, I never hurt one of you, don't kill me, I have a life I don't deserve to lose it," a voice said from within the room. Link forgot about being stealthy, he went through the door to see what was going on. There was a Zora, his arms were rapped in chains and two moblins were standing off to the side holding the chains. Link realized that the mirror was in front of the Zora. "Is some one there?" The Zora asked. "Yes," Link said. "This must be Wyndisis's son. "Save me!" Link ran over to the moblins with his torch in one hand and his sword in the other. "I have no need for him anymore, kill him," said a familiar voice. It was Ganondorf. "Link stopped in his tracks. He was so shocked he couldn't move. He wasn't prepared to see this happen. The two moblins dragged him away from the mirror. Ganondorf made eye contact with Link. Link's jaw dropped. Ganondorf gave him a cold stare and laughed. Link looked behind Ganondorf, the room was filled with Zoras all standing in rows. Ganondorf threw a spell at the mirror and it shattered and engulfed in flames. Link turned to see the moblins throw Wyndisis's son against the wall. He ran over to save him, but it was too late. One of the moblins grabbed a spear and impaled him through the stomach. "No, I don't want to die!" He began to make sickening noises as the spear was shoved through him. The other moblin kicked his head against the wall. He was dead. Link fumed with anger. He was so mad it felt as if his blood was boiling. He charged at the moblins at full speed, he was aware that he could get hurt by the moblins, maybe even killed, but he didn't care, justice had to be served. They turned around just as Link was approaching them. Link slashed his sword at the moblin on the left. The sword dug deep into his muscular shoulder, hitting the bone, blood began to spurt out at a steady pace. He staggered around whimpering in pain. Link took the torch and hit it against the floor, causing chunks of ashes to fly up and burn the other moblins leg. It let out a great yowl and Link slashed him across the chest, stomach, and face. He didn't cut too deep. Link clubbed that moblin on the head with the torch and went over to the one with the cut arm. He slashed him across the face and cut his calf, causing him to fall face first on the ground. Blood spilled onto the floor from his wounds. Link took his sword and dug it deep into his back. He went over to the other moblin, who was crawling on the floor to get to the door. Link slashed his forehead; the blood was going into his eyes. Link started kicking the moblin violently. It yelled in pain, but Link kept on kicking. The moblin stopped, but Link kept kicking. Then he stopped, he looked down to see a pool of blood below his feet. Link slipped out of his violent state and looked across the room to see a shadowy figure dressed like him. Link walked closer, still holding the torch. "Welcome Link," he said as he looked up at Link, "Sheath your weapon." Link looked  
  
"Insane? Then what if I told you that our purpose is to steal the triforces of wisdom and courage from you and Zelda and eliminate the scourge of goodness for all time as we build an empire of evil and maintain order of Hyrule until the day we die. "I would say you're even more insane," Link said giving him a glare back. "You won't be saying that when we triumph over you." "I assure you that will never happen," Link stated in a threatening tone. "If you let your evil control you, then all you have to do is sit back and watch yourself conquer everything. Remember that Link, remember." Link looked disgustedly at the monster that his own reflection had become, and he ran as fast as he could out of the temple and back to the castle. He had to tell Zelda.  
  
Chapter 8 Link ran through the village, he didn't care if he woke anyone up; he had important things to do. He stumbled down the stairs, nearly tripping over a stone, then ran across the field and stood outside of the castle walls. The draw bridge was closed. He had to get in some how. "Hey! Is anyone in there? This is Link, I need you to open the bridge for me," Link yelled. "Hello? Anyone in there? "Ugh they must be sleeping," he thought. Link looked for some rope or anything lying around that he could use to get in. He noticed a few stones lying near the moat. He picked one up. "Hopefully this won't hurt anyone." He chucked it over the bridge. It made a loud crack as it landed. "Is anyone in there awake?" He asked. He picked up another stone and threw it even higher. "Ouch, son of a -," A person yelled. "Sorry!" "Who's there?" "It's me Link." "What do you want?" "Will you please open the bridge; I need to talk to Zelda." There was no response. Link thought the guard had fallen asleep again. He began to pace back and forth. "Op-," Link said. The bridge started to come down. Link jumped up onto the bridge as it was about 2 feet away from touching down. Link felt a shockwave travel through his body as the bridge hit ground. The guard was standing with his helmet of rubbing his head with both hands while his spear was sitting in front of him. "Thank you," Link said. The guard just looked at him, he was still half asleep. When Link entered the market he realized something, Zelda was probably still sleeping. It would be hours before she woke up. Link wandered around the market. The place was quiet. All of the lights were out except for the lights in one small building. The building was made of brown brick. It didn't have any overhang and it didn't have any glass over the small windows, they were just holes in the brick. Link decided to see what was going on inside. He opened the rickety door and walked inside. The place smelled like sawdust. The inside walls were also made of brick. To his right were various tools and piles of scrap metal and wood sitting in front of a door with a window made out of hazy glass. In front of him was a wooden table with scratches and cuts in it. It had a large sheet of paper with elaborate sketches on it. To his left was a long hallway with a stationary cross bow at its entrance. At the end of the hall was a thick sheet of wood with a target drawn on it. A short elderly man, about five feet tall walked out of the door. He had a pair of glasses with thick circular frames. He had a white jacket with a black tie and black pants. He wore a small index card size piece of metal on his chest. It had something engraved on it but Link couldn't quite make out what it said. His hair was balding and he had little tufts of grey hair on the sides of his head. The unfinished wooden floor creaked and bent as he walked on it. He walked in a straight line along the wall until he got directly in front of Link. He stopped, turned his head and looked at Link. "Link, is that you?" he said. Link nodded his head. The old man walked up to Link faster than he was walking before. Link noticed that he had a slight limp. He grabbed Link's hand with both hands and shook vigorously. "What an honor it is to finally meet you face to face. My name is Arthur Corith. You are a great person, you could be a king. I sense the good in you." "I take it that you build weapons in this facility?" "Why yes, I am a professional weapons manufacturer. Every weapon in Hyrule is first built in this place then, if the weapon works well, and is approved by the army and the navy, its designs get taken to the factories were they are produced in large quantities." "Very interesting." Link said. "Yes, it most defiantly is. Here is our latest creation over here." Arthur walked over to the stationary cross bow. Now Link had a closer look at it. It looked just like any ordinary crossbow, only it sat on a wooden post and it had a pulley with a cable connected to it to pull the string on the bow. About two feet down on the post were a bunch of gears and pulleys connected to the cable. A crank was connected to the gears and pulleys. The entire crossbow was made out of a certain kind of metal that Link didn't recognize. It must have been some type of an alloy. "Now here is where the fun begins," said Arthur. He limped his way over to the corner of the room. He grabbed a stool and a few arrows and brought them back to the crossbow. He set the stool down in front of the crossbow and loaded an arrow. "Watch this," he said. He began turning the crank. The cable began to pull back the string. He was working up a sweat by doing this. The bow bent to the point were Link was about to run away form it in fear of it breaking and parts flying everywhere. "Ready. aim. fire!" he said. He pulled the trigger and the arrow went flying at the target so fast that no one could see it. "Amazing," Link said astonished. "Go look for that arrow now." Link walked over to the target. He saw a bunch of holes, but no arrow. "It must've gone into the target, I can't get it out." "Why don't you go look on the other side?" Link walked along side the target. There had to be a good five or six feet of layers of wood and cardboard. Link looked on the other side. There were exit holes all over. Link felt something below his feet. He looked down and saw the arrow. It was still intact, but the tip was bent up. This arrow was made of solid metal. "That arrow went though that whole target?" Link said as he came down the hallway. "Yes it did. Would you like to give it a try?" "Certainly," Link said. "That is astounding. I wonder if this old man is playing some kind of joke on me. I have never seen anything like that happen before. I will get to see once I try this thing out." Link sat down on the stool. Arthur handed him an arrow. Link loaded it and began to turn the crank. It wasn't as difficult as Link thought it would be. He turned the crank without breaking a sweat. He aimed it at the center of the target and pulled the trigger. The string snapped forward and the arrow was gone. Link got up and ran to the other side of the target. Sure enough, the arrow was protruding from the cardboard. "I don't believe it," Link said in utter shock. "How soon will this weapon be approved?" Link asked. "Very soon, I actually built this a long time ago, but I got sick for a few years so I couldn't take it to the military. Plus, we were generally at peace at the time so there was no need for the weapon then. War seems imminent now, I don't know why but I can feel that something bad will happen soon." How did he know that there was going to be a war? Link recalled what the goddesses told him about the people knowing the part they had to play. It made sense that the old man was just not aware of what was actually going to happen but he knew that he had to get those crossbows developed shortly. "Well, thank you for showing me that crossbow, I found it very interesting," said Link. "You're welcome. I don't usually get to talk to people very often." "I have to get going now." Link walked to the door and stepped outside. "Thanks again," he said thought the door as he closed it. It was still early in the morning, the sun hadn't risen yet. Link decided to go to his room and get a couple hours of sleep before he talked to Zelda. He went into his room and took his soggy boots off and lied down on his bed. After what seemed like a moment, there was a knock on his door. He stood up groggily and walked to the door. Zelda stood in front of him. "Link, someone has spotted a standing army in the Kokiri forest. I have no idea where they came from. We weren't invaded by anyone so there is no logical way the could of gotten there; it is like they came from outer space," she said that all in one breath of air, he could tell she was scared. "They came from the past; that is Ganondorf's army. He is here with my dark reflection." "I don't know what to do," said Zelda almost in tears. You mean Ganondorf created an army in the past and brought them into the future?" "Yes," he said soothingly. Ganondorf is using his evil to control them." "In that case, we better get to the root of the problem," said Zelda with increasing bravery. Link couldn't believe it. Just a moment ago she was almost crying, and now it seemed like she wanted to go to Ganondorf and try to seal him into the Evil Realm. Link smiled at her because of the combination of bravery and wisdom she had. "That sounds like a plan," he said. "The army is on high alert, we can go out and try to find Ganondorf, if their army sees us, they will just be walking into a trap." Zelda and Link walked to the entrance of the castle, there were six escorts waiting for them. Two of them had spears; four of them had bows and arrows. "Lets get going," said Zelda as they walked out of the castle.  
  
Chapter 9 He sat silently in the bushes careful not to make a sound. He knew that Link and Zelda would be coming this way. He could sense Link getting closer and closer. It was like his mind was connected to his. He needed to stop them both. His master awaited the power they held. There they were, just exiting the castle walls, oblivious to his existence. They had six guards with them. He didn't care. If they caught him his army would destroy them. Link and Zelda would be dead, and their power would belong to his master. His shots would have to be quick and accurate. He could probably easily take out the guards, they looked brave and intelligent but on the inside they were, dumb, weak, and cowardly. They were getting closer, almost in range. He got down on his left knee, and picked up his bow which was already loaded with an arrow. The sun was just beginning to rise. It cast long looming shadows of the trees across the field. He pointed the bow through the leaves, as carefully as he could without making any suspicious movement in the bushes.  
Link walked along, thinking about Ganondorf, and how he was going to defeat Ganondorf. He didn't look forward to the ordeal, but it had to be done. He wondered what happened to the Kokiri when the army took over their forest. He hoped to the goddesses that none of them were hurt in any way or killed. He turned his head and looked at Zelda. She was so beautiful. He had loved her since they first met, and that was before he even liked girls. If anyone hurt her they would pay dearly. He would take on the whole enemy army to save her. He would die for her.  
He pulled the string back on the bow, they were in range now. He was deciding which one he should take out first. Probably Link. He would never run from a fight. He could read Link like a book. Link lived within him. He had it all figured out now, he would kill Zelda first, and Link would come and engage him in a fight. He would kill him in the fight, the army would take over Hyrule, and his master would have the power of the goddesses. He looked down the shaft of the arrow; he had it aimed right at the side of Zelda's head. Good, she was walking slowly, and she would be an easy shot.  
Link was beginning to feel funny. The thought of anyone hurting Zelda was overwhelming. He could feel the evil intensions of someone close by. Link closed his eyes. He could see a blurry image before him. It grew increasingly clearer. He saw Zelda, but from a different perspective. Something else came into view. It was an arrow pointing straight at her. It looked like he was going to shoot Zelda. He opened his eyes, not believing of what he saw. Why would he think of something like that? That wasn't something he would even think of. The image was still clear in the back of his head. He could tell when the arrow was going to be let loose. He could almost feel himself gripping the string. He had to do something fast. Something terrible was about to happen. "Zelda get down!" He put his arm around her shoulder and fell on the ground, taking her with him. Zelda let out a loud scream. A split second later an arrow went flying past one of the guard's head. They all heard it sail by and they responded immediately. They drew their arrows and formed a perimeter around Link and Zelda. "Thank the goddesses you're alive. He gave Zelda a hug and they stood up. "What just happened?" Zelda asked. She knew something bad just happened, she could tell by how the guards were acting. "Someone tried to kill you," Link said, trying to hold back his anger. "Oh my goodness, Link it's you!" Link whipped his head around and saw immediately what Zelda was talking about. There was his reflection. "I have to stop him," Link said as his reflection began to run up the stairs to Kakariko Village. "You do what you must, I will be hiding in the room on the top floor of the castle, trust me, I will be safe there," she said placing her hand on Link's shoulder ensuring him that she would be okay. He looked into her eyes for a moment; he sure hoped she would be okay. "Zelda, I love you," he said. "Thank you, I feel the same way too." they just stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity. The trance they were in was suddenly broken by reality. "Hurry Link, you have to stop him!" Link ran after his reflection. He sped through the village, kicking a chicken accidentally. "Sorry sir," he said. His mind was only on one thing, saving Hyrule. He could tell where his reflection was going; he was heading up Death Mountain. He ran as fast as he could along the trail. He could feel the adrenaline kicking in. He ran faster than he ever did in his life. He passed Goron city and came upon an end to the trail. Then he realized the trail didn't end, it just came to a point where there was a one in a half foot ledge of rock. On one side there was a wall, and on the other side there was a shear drop off. Link looked up a steep hill to his left. "That's where he went," he thought. He raced up the hill, not stopping for a breath. He stumbled over a rock and nearly lost his balance, but he kept on going. Finally, the mountain became less steep. There were a few large boulders scattered around. They were about twice the size of him. He could sense his reflection's presence around here. He ran towards a boulder and skidded to a halt as his reflection came out from behind the rock. Link quickly grabbed his sword and shield. His reflection did the same.  
"Brave of you Link," he complemented in a slightly mordant tone. "But unfortunately bravery does not outweigh stupidity. Look down there." Link turned his head and saw Ganondorf's army attacking Hyrule castle. The Hylians were courageously defending it. "Within hours, everything you fought for will be gone, and the Triforce will belong completely to Ganondorf."  
"There is no way that is ever going to happen!" Link said through his gritted teeth. He took his sword and clashed it against his reflection's sword. His reflections sword didn't move. Link blocked three quick jabs from his enemy's sword with his sword and shield. He managed to push him back a few feet after his failed attempt. Link took an underhand swing with his sword and had it going straight at his neck. His reflection simply blocked it with his sword. "Ooh," said Link's dark side as Link had his sword pressed against his sword, so close to his neck.  
"This almost disappoints me. I never knew how bad of a swordsman I could be." Link simply fumed in anger. He parried another swing from his reflection and did a chain of attacks on him. He swung to his right, then to his left, then underhand, then he spun around with blinding speed and his sword was once again stopped in mid air by his dark side. His reflection gave him a wicked smile as he dropped his shield, took a step back and drew his second sword.  
"So sure of yourself are you?" Link said glaring at him. The reflection simply nodded with a maniacal smile. He started hitting Link with both swords, driving Link back towards the steep part of the mountain, all Link could do was block, he was growing wearier by the second. Finally, when they got near the slope, Link did an overhand attack, but it was blocked. His reflection blocked the attack with his left sword, holding his left arm to his far right and the sword was horizontal. In one swift movement, he switched the grip on his sword in his right hand, so the blade was pointing down instead of up. He pushed Link's sword up in the air, spun around to his right, and dug his sword into the back of Link's upper right forearm. Link screamed in agony as the cold steel hit his bone. Blood was oozing slowly from the wound. His reflection removed the sword, and used the spike on the handle to put a huge gash in Link's forehead. Link eyes showed a state of pure shock. He stepped back a few steps and caught his heal on a rock. He tried to keep his balance but he went tumbling down the steep, rocky slope.  
Link's reflection had to go find Zelda now; he would have to bring his master back to extract the Triforce of Courage from Link. Ganondorf's troops were coming up the side of Death Mountain that he had climbed earlier. He would have to find a longer way down. He needed to meet with Ganondorf who was in Kokiri Forest playing general. He ran around to the other side of the volcano. There was a fairly steep rocky slope, but he could make it down alive.  
The sound of the enemy troops approaching was beyond frightening. They sounded like thunder, thunder that could tear you apart in seconds. Many of the civilians had fled. The Hylian soldiers were gathered inside the castle walls. They wished each other good luck and hoped they would return safely. Their general blew the whistle; that was their signal to attack. The cavalry were the first into battle. Most of them carried large spears, but the more skilled ones carried bows. The front line of the infantry was filled with swordsmen and spearmen. Then beyond that there was a large assortment of archers, spearmen and swordsmen. The enemies were set up in a similar formation. The two legions approached each other at a rapid pace. The cavalry looked at their enemies with deride. The Dark Hylian Knights wore black armor and their helmets completely covered their faces. One Hylian had a certain enemy picked out and his enemy was probably thinking the same thing. They stared at each other as they came closer and closer, their spears ready to kill. They each aimed for the chest. As they got within killing range of one another the dark Hylian moved to his left, causing the Hylian soldier to miss him entirely. A split second after that, he plunged his spear into the right side of the Hylian's neck. He pulled back on the reigns of his horse. He was gagging and gasping for breath as the blood entered his windpipe. He couldn't go like this, not now. But that seemed to be what destiny had brought him. He was covered in his own blood now. He breathed his last final breath and fell lifelessly on the ground. Now the battle seemed to be easily matched, one good guy would die, then a bad guy. Each side knew they had to get the upper hand. The fighting went on as each soldier's life was taken one by one. Two men were in the middle of a sword fight when suddenly, something shot through the dark Hylian's chest. It emerged out his back and went into the leg of another person. He gave a look of total shock and collapsed. The Hylians in the back of the formation looked back to see orange streaks flying through the air at blinding speed. About twenty soldiers had set up crossbows on the castle walls and were firing them off at the enemy. "Prepare to die," one dark Hylian cavalryman said while pointing a spear at the Hylian archer standing in front of him. The archer was big built and he looked frightened. He looked back with fear and rage in his eyes. Then something distracted him, an arrow hit the man behind him and he screamed and fell off his horse. He turned around remembering he was just in the middle of a confrontation. When he had turned back to face the archer, he had already pulled back on the string of the bow and had it aiming straight towards him, before he could react, the archer let the arrow go. It went into the bottom of his chin and came out the top of his head, taking his helmet off and revealing his face. Blood shot out of the top of his head like a fountain. He dropped the spear and it hit the ground on one end, then it bounced up and landed flatly. His eyes were pointing downward, and they were crossed. The arrow must have been the last thing he saw. The corners of his mouth and his nose oozed blood. The archer looked at him. His eyes contorted into a state of pure shock. He looked into the man's eyes. The person that just tried to kill him was sitting on the horse lifelessly. The thing that scared him the most is the fact that he looked like a friend of his that disappeared. He rolled off the side of the horse. The archer collapsed onto the ground and began to cry. Link was hanging on the edge of the cliff he had walked by on his way up the hill. He was grasping a protruding rock with his free hand. He had dropped his sword on the way down and he had sustained a few more injuries. He had some scratches and bruises on his legs and a cut across his left cheek. He could feel the fear coursing through him. "Don't look down, don't look down," he thought to himself. His other arm daggled down, he was still holding his shield. He let go of his shield and turned his head and saw it bounce over the jagged rocks. "Damn, I shouldn't have looked," he thought aloud. He looked up. He had about three feet of cliff to climb up. He lifted his right arm and grabbed a small gap in the rock. A stream of blood had worked its way down his arm and off the end of his little finger. He had lost a little blood, but he would live. He felt around with his feet for another opening in the rock to use to brace himself. He felt something but it crumbled beneath his feet. His grip on the rocks was loosening; he didn't want to die like this. When his hand was just about to slip he grabbed the rock again. He was breathing heavily, and he had to think of a way to get back up. He tried to look down at his feet without actually looking all the way down. Some of the rock was crumbling down there. He began to kick at it. The plan was successful. He had created a small crater in the rock to put his feet in. He looked up again, and he took note of a few rocks protruding on the face of the cliff, but they were above his reach. He then grabbed a dagger from his belt, one that he rarely used and he stuck it in a crack in the rock. It fit in tightly, which was good. He hoisted himself up by holding onto the handle of the dagger and kicking at the side of the cliff and grabbed the protruding rock with his free hand. Good, he was almost at the top. As fast as he could, he let go of his dagger and reached up and grabbed another rock. With all of his strength, he pulled himself up onto the flat ground. His master sword didn't lie too far ahead of him. He picked it up and looked back at the edge that had nearly fallen off and shuddered. He saw that Ganondorf's troops were gaining on the castle walls. "I thought Zelda said she would be safe there. She is too close to the battle; I have to go to her before Ganondorf does." While Link was amid his thoughts a giant boulder tumbled down the mountain side. He jumped to dodge it and he didn't feel himself land. Link fell with his eyes closed. He could relate it the feeling he would get when he awoke from a bad dream and someone threw him up into the air. He slowly opened his eyes. An eerie calm began to take over him. He was falling head first to his death and he didn't even seem to care. He turned his head and looked one way, and then another way. Everything was one gigantic blur. He decided to look down. It seemed as though he were traveling though space, out of the corner of his eye everything was distorted but he could see the ground getting closer and closer. The longer he fell the faster the ground became closer. "I'm going to die," he thought. Then his perception of the world suddenly vanished. Just as the Hylians thought the tide of the battle was turning, the dark Hylians began to fight harder. It became a rare occurrence that a Hylian would be able to take out a dark Hylian. The only dark Hylians that fell were the ones that were hit by the powerful crossbows. The battle was slowly growing closer and closer to the castle. Ganondorf had recently deployed new troops, the Zora. Suddenly, a giant barrel went flying through the air. It landed on a dark Hylian swordsman and exploded, causing bits and pieces of his armor to fly around and hit the nearby people. The soldier's top half was almost blown completely off. The Hylians looked in disgust and some even began to vomit, while the dark Hylians didn't even seem to notice the death of their comrade. The Gorons had set up catapults on the edge of Death Mountain, and were launching powder kegs and rocks from them. A dark Hylian soldier looked up to see a giant rock flying at him like a bowling ball from Hell, and it smashed right through his head. The dark Zora had begun to attack the Zora River and Lake Hylia. The Zora stood ready to defend themselves with their swords. The enemy Zora wielded staves that had an S-shaped blade on it. All of its sides were razor sharp. Each Zora, good and evil, had a small spring loaded spear gun that attached to their hand. These guns could fire six darts before they needed to be reloaded. The Zora had one solid line of swordsmen. The enemy quickly broke through that. The battle was underwater now. A dark Zora dove into the water with his spear gun and went after the first Zora he saw. He chased it through the water at lightning speed. They went around underwater obstacles such as pillars of rocks, and underwater caves. The dark Zora was right on top of his target. He aimed the dart right at the Zora's back, but he did a barrel-roll and started to go straight for the bottom of the lake. He eyed a small opening, he remembered this cave, his friend and he used to race through this cave when they were younger, they weren't supposed to because it was so dangerous. He knew he would have the upper hand in this situation. He entered the cave, the enemy closely following. He immediately took the passage on the right, for the left was just a dead end. They entered an area of total darkness. They sped though the large tunnel; they could feel each other forming currents in the water. The Zora took a sharp turn to the left and entered a narrow passageway. He felt something zoom past his head. He felt it again, this time it nicked the side of his head. The tunnel began to become narrower and narrower. He knew this tunnel well, at the end there is a pillar of rock, and you need to turn fast to avoid hitting it. They each could feel the rock close to their arms; sometimes it would even scrape off a piece of skin. The end of the tunnel was near. As soon as the Zora knew he was out of the tunnel then took a sharp turn towards the right leading him into another tunnel. He heard a loud "crack" echo through the cave. "I lost him." He traveled through the tunnel until he saw light. The enemy was wining; his comrades were floating lifelessly in the water. He continued to fight. He would fight to the death, for his friends. Ganondorf had joined the battle on the surface. He rode atop his horse, looking across the field as if nothing bad was going on. He stared at the charging Hylians with disgust; then an evil smile came across his face. He held his hand up in the air, and summoned lighting bolts to form a glowing yellow energy ball in his hand. The world seemed to turn black when he did this, making only Ganondorf and a few of the dark Hylians visible under its eerie luminosity. Ganondorf whipped the ball through the air and it hit a soldier on his horse. Both the soldier and the horse began to glow. Static like bolts bounced off of them. In a matter of seconds, they both collapsed onto the ground and twitched a few times, and then they became completely motionless. Upon seeing this, the Hylians went into full retreat. Some of them were picked off by the arrows. The ones that survived went beyond the castle walls. Hoping the enemy wouldn't cause them anymore harm. Link shot up from what felt like a deep sleep. As his eyes adjusted to the light he noticed he was in an area where everything was white. He had been here before. Link started to feel the fear he should have felt when he fell off of that cliff. He stood up shakily. "Am I dead," he thought. "No you are not dead; you are just frozen in your time. Time here is a thousand times faster that your time." The voice repeated itself twice. Link knew were he was now, in the lair of the goddesses. "Why am I here?" He asked. "We have something very important to tell you Link. When Ganondorf created a copy of you and his army, he had managed to balance the force between good and evil. We are giving you all, those who keep the force into balance the power to throw the force out of balance." "But why would you want to do that?" "Although we aren't allowed to directly interfere with our creation's problems, we can speed up the process that fixes them. We know how unbelievably impatient people can be. There is great risk though. If you allow yourself to loose evil will dominate the world for centuries, possibly millenniums. "If you win good will rule the world and it will have to be maintained and evil must be stopped from destroying it." "I will not fail you Goddesses, I know my destiny." Suddenly the lair dispersed from his sight. Chapter 10 Link's eyes shot open, he was suspended in the air above a rocky ground. His arms were reached out and almost touching it. He seemed to stay still for a split second, and then he collapsed on the ground like a sack of potatoes. He noticed that he must have dropped the Master Sword on the way down. It was stuck between two rocks. He picked it up and ran toward the castle. Ganondorf and Link's reflection had met up. They were standing next to one another outside the castle walls. Their troops were taking over the city; there was very little resistance to be quelled with. "I know where Zelda is." Link said. "You do?" Ganondorf asked. "Yes I can feel it." "What do you mean 'You can feel it'?" "I felt it through Link's fear of her dying, when I pushed him off that cliff. He knew wherever she was, she wasn't safe. She is hiding in that room, on the top floor of the castle. If we get there fast we can capture her, and the power you seek will be yours." "Then I suggest we go." The two of them walked into the city. Everything was trashed. They ran for the castle.  
  
Link had arrived at the castle, the presence of Ganondorf's troops made his blood boil. He couldn't get in the easy way. There were many flaws in the security though. And it took a guard that knew the castle really well to keep the castle from being broken into. Link saw a doorway that led to the kitchen. He prepared his sword to attack any enemy that might jump out at him. He opened the door a crack. No one seemed to respond. He opened the door more and snuck in. No one was present at the time. He walked down the hallway swiftly; then skidded to a stop when he saw the evil guards were blocking the way to the stairway. He would have to take an alternate route. There was another stairway that led to the balcony, and from the balcony he would climb a few stories into the room were Zelda was. He could sneak in the window.  
  
Ganondorf and his apprentice walked up the spiral staircase. There was no hurry, all of Zelda's escape routes were sealed off. Her only choice was to jump out the window. A two of their soldiers were with them, in case the enemy was still present. Ganondorf had brought his sword with him too. Instead of coming to a point on the end it was curved. However the four of them were not alone. They were followed closely by a figure garbed in a black cloak. It wore a hood and a cloth covered everything but its eyes, which were red. Its cape was hugged closely to its body and the front of its robe had a Shiekah symbol on it. It stepped slowly and silently up the stairs after Ganondorf and Link.  
  
Link had managed to find a long rope with a mace tied to the end of it in the armory. He could use this as a grappling hook. He made it up onto the balcony without being detected. He sheathed his sword and threw the mace into the air. It attached itself under the sill of the open window. He tugged at it to make sure it wouldn't come loose. Link took a deep breath and began to climb the wall.  
  
Ganondorf and his followers had just about made it; they were approaching the door to the room. The shadow figure still followed them. It reached into a pouch that was strapped to its belt and pulled out a handful of nails. They had finally made it to the door. "You stay here, Ganondorf said to the two soldiers. With that Link and Ganondorf walked through the door and closed it behind them. The dark figure peered around the corner at the two soldiers. Both were facing it and they held their spears ready for attack. "They just look intimidating," it thought. It jumped out around the corner and released a horizontal spray of nails. The nails went straight into the vulnerable neck area. They both began coughing and gagging as life slowly faded from them and they collapsed into a pool of their own blood. The unidentified Shiekah simply watched them collapse to their death. It took great skill to throw nails and cause any damage to someone. This person seemed to have mastered this skill. Ganondorf and Link's reflection looked around the room. This room was large and entirely empty; it just had a few open windows and a picture of the Triforce painted on the stone floor. There was no sign of Zelda in this room. "I thought you said you would be he-" Ganondorf was cut off by Link jumping through the window. He drew his sword and held his hand up into the air. The Triforce of Courage began to glow on his hand. He glared at Ganondorf and his reflection contemptuously. His shadow was cast across the room by the mid-morning sun. Link was shocked that Zelda wasn't there. Link's reflection drew both his swords and tossed his shield into a corner. Ganondorf looked down at his hand; the Triforce of Power was glowing now. Zelda had to be hiding in hear somewhere. The symbols only lit up when they were near all the holders of the Triforce. Suddenly the door behind Ganondorf flew open. The shadow figure had just entered the room. Its hands were down at its side, and then it raised its right fist into the air. There was a Triforce symbol on its hand too and the lower left triangle was glowing, the Triforce of wisdom. All in the room were dumbfounded. Link looked the figure in the eye and it winked at him. "Princess Zelda, I see you have managed to disguise yourself again. If it weren't for that little triangle on your hand I probably wouldn't have recognized you. I'm surprised that you have been brave enough not to hide from me. Now you and your friend must give me what I want and we will not destroy you. Do I make myself clear? Zelda was quick to respond. She reached into the pouch and pulled out a handful of nails. She whipped them as fast as she could at Ganondorf's face. Ganondorf held out his hand and blinding streaks of light that lit up the room came from the incinerating nails, which were coming within inches of Ganondorf. Zelda slowly lowered her hand in disappointment. Both Links were ready to step into action. Zelda pulled here cape to the side, revealing a sheathed double bladed sword. She had it strapped to it somehow. Zelda pulled the sheaths off of each blade. The handle seemed to be gold and platinum plated. There were many elaborate designs on it. The blades which pointed in opposite directions were similar to a machetes blade, but they were twice as long and they had a slight curve to them. The castle began to rumble slightly. All of the people present in the room looked around to see what the source of the rumbling was. Each of their swords began to slowly light up. Link's sword began to glow green, Zelda's blue, Ganondorf's red, and Link's reflections swords were a dark bluish purple, they almost resembled two big black lights. They all stood in amazement as their weapons became progressively brighter. Link and Zelda's swords glowed like bright lights while Ganondorf and his apprentice's swords gave of an eerie flame. Link heard the voices of the goddesses echoing in his head. "We are giving you all, those who keep the force into balance the power to throw the force out of balance." Zelda leapt up into the air, and did a flip over Ganondorf and clashed swords with him in midair. Her black cape trailed behind her. Ganondorf drew his sword back and prepared to hack Zelda in two with the curved end of the blade, but Zelda spun her sword underhand hitting the end of Ganondorf's sword repeatedly and she dodged out of the way when he finally attacked. Zelda went back to the offensive. She grabbed the handle with both hands and went for Ganondorf's arm. He blocked the attack in time. Their blades were locked; they looked each other in the eye. The glow from the swords lit up their faces and eyes. The glow of the swords caused the pupils of Ganondorf's eyes to give off a flash of blue. Link ran at his reflection and started swinging his sword at him. The reflection easily blocked the attacks with his two swords, and Link instantly found himself on the defense. His reflection started to spin around clockwise. Each arm flailing an attack at Link each time it came around. Link had his sword nearly spinning in circles to block the attacks. Link jumped back, this would tire him out two much. Link did a summersault around his left side, and swung his sword at his head. His reflection quickly turned around and parried the attack with his right sword. He stood sideways and took a few more swings at Link with his right sword. Then he spun around counter clockwise and attacked with his left. Link was beginning to get tired. He had to cause him to loose one of his swords. His reflection began attacking him simultaneously with his swords. Link could barely keep up. Zelda was doing all kinds of fancy tricks with her sword; she had to be elusive, for Ganondorf was much stronger than her. Her sword was spinning at blinding speed and she went for Ganondorf's feet. He parried that attack and he pulled off an attack of his own. He went for her head and for her legs. She parried the attack both times. Ganondorf took an underhand swing at Zelda she blocked the attack but she was sent flying into the air by the force Ganondorf put behind it. She landed on the ground near the wall ten feet away. Ganondorf took this opportunity to help his apprentice. He gathered a ball of lightning and threw it at Link. Link spun around and prepared to block it with his sword, but he missed entirely and the energy ball knocked him against the wall and he collapsed onto the ground. Link's reflection seized this miraculous opportunity to finish Link off. He grinned at Link and prepared to swing his sword. He swung the sword for Link's neck but Zelda quickly got up and intervened. Link's reflection and Zelda glared at each other, their swords still crossed above Link. Zelda thrust his sword out of the way and the two of them began to duel while Link was still recovering. The two double bladed rivals were evenly matched. Link's dark side could stay on the offensive and Zelda could easily block his attacks. His attacks were fast, but he had a consistent pattern to them. Ganondorf had entered the fray. He stood behind Zelda and swung his sword at her back. Zelda did a back flip and ended up on the other side of Ganondorf, so she was on longer surrounded. She stood low to the ground, several feet away from Ganondorf. She was poised to attack. Her left hand was outstretched and her right hand was behind her holding the sword. Link had recovered from Ganondorf's attack. He ran at full speed toward Ganondorf. Upon seeing this, Zelda took it upon herself to fight Link's reflection. She flipped over Ganondorf and landed in front of Link's reflection and the two began to engage in fighting. Link held his sword with both hands and parried an overhand attack from Ganondorf. He used all of his might to push the sword back. He drew his sword back and took a stab at Ganondorf. Ganondorf swung underhand and knocked the sword into the air. He took a swing at Links head, but Link ducked out of the way just in time. Link jumped back and charged at Ganondorf spinning his sword underhand and to the right. Ganondorf blocked three lightning quick attacks, and then Link changed his course and went overhand to the right. They locked blades. Link was pushing upwards with all his might, holding the sword with both hands while Ganondorf pushed down with one hand. Link pulled back and did a summersault around Ganondorf. Ganondorf thrust his sword at Link but he dodged out of the way. Ganondorf's apprentice was taking the full offensive fighting Zelda. He was spinning clockwise, attacking with each sword horizontally. The right sword attacked up high, the left sword attacked down low. Because Zelda had a double bladed sword it was easy to keep up with his attacks. This time he did something different. When he attacked with his left sword he swung the right sword over his back and it came down at Zelda's head. They were at a two way lock for a split second. Zelda twirled her sword around counterclockwise to break the lock. Ganondorf's apprentice's arms were pushed out to the sides, leaving him open for attack. Zelda kicked him in the face and he went flying back. He hit the back of his head on the ground and became unconscious. Meanwhile Link hand Ganondorf trapped in a corner. Ganondorf saw that his apprentice was in trouble and he managed to push Link away and smash the ground with magic. He couldn't fight these two on his own. Link flew through the air and skidded across the ground. Ganondorf charged at Zelda, who was about to deliver the final blow, but her plans were thwarted when Ganondorf came charging at her. She turned around and charged at Ganondorf. He swung at her head, and she ducked. Then he went for the legs but she jumped it. Ganondorf swung his sword low from right to left. Zelda blocked the attack. As he pulled back to prepare an overhand attack, Zelda stuck her sword in Ganondorf's face. He was hit on the nose and the left eye with the side of the sword. The energy of the sword burned his face badly; it was as if someone hit him in the face with a hot frying pan. He looked down in shock. Zelda slashed him across the stomach. The wound didn't go past the muscle, and every area the sword had touched had a third degree burn. Ganondorf stumbled back and dropped his sword. The red light faded from his weapon. A look of shock came across his face. As Zelda watched in amazement as her enemy slowly began to weaken. Ganondorf held out his hand, and summoned strong winds to blow Zelda halfway across the room. She tried to stand up but Ganondorf wouldn't have it. He threw a magic ball at the ground in front of her, sending her back farther. He held both hands above his head and gathered a giant ball of dark magic. Link jumped up from the ground and charged at Ganondorf with his sword. Ganondorf was so focused using his last bit of power to destroy Zelda that he did not see Link running at him. Link plunged the Master Sword into Ganondorf's side. All of the magic disappeared. Ganondorf shifted his eyes toward Link. "I promise you, one day I will get my revenge," he said through gritted teeth. He could feel the hot blade burning away his internal organs. Link glared into Ganondorf's eyes and pulled the sword out and watched him fall onto his back. Link stood over Ganondorf and watched death slowly grasp him. "The princess." "Yeah, Zelda. What about her?" Link asked. Ganondorf shifted his eyes toward Link. "She will die." Ganondorf's eyes rolled back into his head. Link looked over at Zelda lying on the ground. Suddenly stones fell from the ceiling above her. Link looked at her in shock. He ran over to pull her out of the way, but the whole ceiling suddenly collapsed. "No!" Link yelled. Link's reflection stood up and chuckled. "It's so terrible that she had to go after you just told her your feelings." He began pacing back and fourth. "But I'm sure that she wouldn't truly like you for the scum you are. I think you would be better off without her. I am offering you a last time deal. Come with me, without Ganondorf we could rule the world. We could extract his powers and be unstoppable. Are you with me or not?" Link's face contorted into one of total anger and hate. He ran at his reflection. He began hacking at his swords in a blind rage. His reflection tried to counter the attacks, but each time he tried Link pushed the swords out of the way. Link kicked him in the chest. Then he went for a vertical chop at his head. Link's reflection blocked it just in time. Link continued hacking at him, and eventually knocked his sword out of his left hand and sent it flying across the room. Link's reflection managed to speed up his attacks and took a few offensive swings at Link. Link blocked each attack. His reflection punched at his head with the spiked handle, but Link wouldn't falter this time. He cut off his reflections hand before it reached his face. He screamed as his hand fell to the ground, with the sword still in it. He held his wrist and looked up at Link with anger. The wound did not bleed; it gave off darkness, just like a spotlight would give off light. The darkness enveloped the entire room. It had a strange effect on the sources of light. Link's sword still glowed brightly but the light didn't spread anywhere. It was as if the darkness was the light. "This is the beginning of the end, Link. You will all suffer. Not now, someday, and forever." He fell to the ground and looked up at Link. "You will regret." He couldn't finish his sentence. His eyes were glued onto Link. The color in his face slowly began to fade, and then it started to turn grey and shrivel up. Ganondorf and his apprentice simultaneously burst into flames and disappeared. Link watched as they finally went away back into the Sacred Realm where they belonged. He then remembered Zelda. He hoped she wasn't dead. He closed his eyes and said, "Don't do this to me." He walked over to the pile of rubble and began to slowly and cautiously take rocks off of it. He saw Zelda's hand. He grabbed it and she squeezed his hand. "You're alive?" He said it more like a gleeful statement instead of a question. "Yes." Link started to take off the rocks faster and faster. Finally he uncovered Zelda's face. He removed the rest of the rocks and she stood up. Link saw a blinding flash of light come from Zelda. She was now no longer that dark figure. She was the Zelda he knew. "I'm sorry I scared you, but like you said, you had to deal with him by yourself, and I couldn't interfere. Don't worry, I'm safe now." For the first time in his life, Zelda kissed him. He felt like he was in heaven. "Now let's go back, to where and when we are supposed to be. Link took the ocarina from his belt and played the song of time. When he finished he held onto Zelda's hand. The vision of the future slowly began to fade. Then they found themselves standing outside the castle where they met before. "I'll go put this sword away." "Link, you are welcome back to the castle whenever you want. I can not thank you enough for what you have done. I love you." "I know," Link said. "Did you hear him when he said this is the beginning of the end?" "Hear who, your reflection?" "Yes. Do you think it is?" "No. Not as long as we are together." 


End file.
